Red Bulls, Cosmos could be on a collision course in US Open Cup

The United States Soccer Federation released this year’s schedule for the US Open Cup, and New York’s only two current professional teams may be on a collision course

The New York Cosmos begin their participation in the tournament on May 28th; the third round of the Open Cup. All NASL sides will be paired against winners of the first and second round competitions between USL Pro, PDL, USASA, NPSL, US Club Soccer and USSSA teams.

If the reigning Soccer Bowl champions advance, the USSF will find their nearest regional opponent in the fourth round. That would mean an encounter with the New York Red Bulls — the first between both teams since the return of the famed NASL side.

The fourth round is set to begin from June 10th to the 18th. The team awarded home field will be allowed to pick the specific date, with the lone caveat that the visiting team have two days rest to prepare. Neither the Cosmos or the Red Bulls should have a conflict in that department. The NASL will be closed in observance of the World Cup while the Red Bulls’ final match comes on the 8th against New England. The Cosmos will also play their final game on the 8th in Canada against the Ottawa Fury, putting each team on equal footing.

This will be the Cosmos first jaunt through US Open Cup competition. The Red Bulls participated last year, earning elimination against the New England Revolution in the fourth round.

Fifth Round dates will be scheduled later in the month (June 24-25). The Quarterfinal Round takes place from July 8-9th, the Semifinal Round from August 12-13th and the Final set sometime between September 30th to October 1st.

Easy there! The Cosmos play quality soccer. Either way, show up at the game if you really care!

Anthony

Gio vs. Petke

Anonymous

15 of those trophies come from another unrelated team and league, and another lifetime. Please don’t count any trophies won prior to 1984. That’s just weak. Last year the ‘New’ Cosmos earned two trophies from, what?, playing 13 games over 12 weeks? 17 trophies…please just stop.

Peter D. Ross

Well said Anonymous. Bravo! Spoken like a true ignoramus and hater with an inferiority complex. You clearly have no knowledge of soccer history. You probably think soccer was invented by MLS. Or that the arbitrary “division 2” is the same as the rest of the world, or that the US Open Cup only mattered when MLS “clubs” (I do really mean McDonald franchises) started to participate. Get a grip on reality. MLS with their 22 drive-up “Welcome to MLS, can I take your order (really can I take your millions, name, and all your rights as a club)?” will eventually collapse as a product. Over 500 clubs in the US alone are building momentum and together they will all make a difference. Even members within MLS are rethinking their longtime investment (oops did I let the cat out the bag…?) Meanwhile, keep eating your 1min microwaved soccer, while the rest of us enjoy a real hot meal of international cuisine. Soccer in the US needs a wake up call. Soccer in the US = approximately 150 years. Go tradition, go legacy, go history, go NY Cosmos.

Anonymous

Whoa. Someone s grumpy for some reason. So yeah , you’re soundly wrong on like.. 20 aspects. Deal with it

Peter D. Ross

Uhuh. You tell yourself that. Keep sipping the MLS ridiculous cool-aid. Times are changing. You deal with it.

Anonymous

Your wanting the NASL to be a proper league, and MLS’ collapse is wishful thinking. Go move to Europe. The big money is betting on MLS.

Peter D. Ross

Oh, it’s not a matter of desire, but inevitability. 500 authentic US soccer clubs are louder than 22 Mickey Ds (stress on the Mickey Mouse club league). 80 clubs in the 2014 US Open, with 64 not being in MLS – the largest ever. Growth in numbers.

I don’t need to move. I am from America. This is my home. And in this great nation of the land of the free, the game we know today as soccer has been around for approximately 150 years. The problem with you is that you are oblivious to this truth because you follow the MLS narrative of “we are the beginning and end of soccer in the US.” What a major flaw. Yet, you are not to fully blame. You are merely a victim of the MLS myth and propaganda that has been orchestrated for the past 20 years in order to bury soccer history in the US so MLS can harbor their D1 status as legitimate. Now, much of the information is steadily coming forth with more and more proper advocates are embracing and promoting it.

The big money never was on MLS. Another flaw in your concept of “I follow a league” syndrome.” The big money is and always has been in the clubs – all the clubs being developed. Let the clubs stand on their own right to compete amongst themselves with the best finishing on top. That is where we need to be.

For all that history and effort, most of those clubs have been unsustainable.

You will be hard pressed to find a club from the old ASL days (1920s) still in existence.

As a student of history you should recognize that unlike the leagues which preceded it MLS is the first league to come up with a sustainable model which actually serves to keep clubs around rather than push them into the dustbin of history.

twitter_noboa

The only one I can think of is Hoboken FC, and they play in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League.

Peter D. Ross

Hi TheRealZer0Cool,

Contrary to belief, many clubs in soccer history – much prior to MLS – had very solid years of sustainability. Several clubs in the NASL and ASL played over ten years in league operation. Issue before was design and expectation which is a very deep subject. Much of this today, however, is being strategically learned from and improved by all leagues on several levels.

With regard to clubs in the ASL days of the 1920s, many of the original clubs eventually fell in part because of the Great Depression which affected the monetary investment of the league. Post the 1930s there are still clubs that exist today, such as the Kearny Irish/Celtic. Even clubs that predate the ASL like the Kearny Scots, which by the way are 5 time ASL champions and were formed in the late 19th century.

Many of the ASL clubs faced some of the big name clubs from around the world.

The ASL ran between 1921-1983 (about 62 years). It was (re)merged in 1929 (with the EPSL), named the ACL in that year, renamed back to the ASL in 1930, and finally restructured (financially) in 1933. Today it is erroneously perceived as a two “separate” leagues. Three to four phases perhaps, with two or more business ids, but one continuous league, with an indirectly continued league in 1984 with the USL to 1985, and a rebirth in 1988. Regardless, the original iteration of the league lasted 6 decades, three times longer than MLS. Moreover we can’t simply compare the ASL and MLS because the variables within their years are very distinct especially with the way markets and promotion exist today. But the ASL somehow lasted over 60 years. Hmm… Something was right.

The NASL for their part also was a growing and powerful league running from 1966, including the USA and NPSL, to 1985 (19 years). It could have continuously lasted ’til today. The major problem was venue, perception, and investment. If you look at this: http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?page_id=496, you will see that even in 1984, in the last year of outdoor play of the first era, the NASL still averaged about 10,000. Most clubs individually had over 10,000 fans. But they were mostly renting and playing in football stadiums with 50,000-80,000 seats. Even then, there was still a large demand for the professional game and these clubs, but investment needed to be redefined. The World Cup of 1986 would have been a major boost for the sport.

The 1994 World Cup ultimately gave soccer and MLS a boost for the mid 90s.

One of the very good things that MLS has done, granted, by experience from Lamar Hunt who was also a member of the NASL, was to build stadiums that would be owned by the teams and be relevant in size to their measured average attendance. Now MLS is reverting back to playing in football stadiums. How ironic. The world is spinning in circles.

Furthermore, if you want to talk about sustainability and keeping clubs around in MLS, well two franchises did flounder. Several franchises were resold or renamed, so clubs would not appear that they failed – like Chivas USA, Kansas City Wizards, or the MetroStars. Still today, some within the Red Bulls fanbase dislike the name and want the MetroStars back or a name that doesn’t reflect an independent brand. So it is all a matter of perception.

When MLS started, the goal was to have a system to help the clubs get a foot and maintain themselves steady for a few years, and then loosen the rope. It’s been almost 20 years – far too long. And still today, these teams can’t even properly compete against clubs from Mexico or clubs in the CONCACAF Champions League, let along clubs from Europe and other parts of the World. The only three clubs that have had some CCL success are Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy, and (early) DC United. Meanwhile the rest have been a real no show.

With all this so called sustainability, MLS is truly the first league that actually limits a team’s growth and the growth of clubs not within the league by way of keeping D1 hostage.

When MLS changes and allows for teams to have more financial freedom, then it will improve. And when US Soccer changes the policy on D1 and allows for an open system, then soccer in this country will take off.

MLS has been the only league to have try to tried to distant itself from all US soccer history. However, the names and legacy of several of these clubs were too powerful, especially those that were already participating in the like the Sounders, Timbers, Whitecaps, and Earthquakes. The NASL and all the leagues before it showcased teams whose names are still dominant today and form part of popular soccer culture in the US. So these and all the historical clubs before them don’t form part of any dustbin, they form part of the heroes and champions of US Soccer. MLS could no longer turn the cheek and now they are gradually accepting, promoting, and even absconding soccer history: e.g. Bethlehem Steel FC.

Either, MLS didn’t event the wheel. It was given to them by US Soccer after it was made, reshaped, and fined tune for 100 years before they even came around. Now it is time to move on to better and bigger things.

All clubs, open system.

JB

Get a grip dude. I think we’d all like soccer to be such that it can sustain more than 24 MLS sides. Let’s give MLS its due though; it clearly promoted soccer in the US and enabled all these “rogue” clubs to succeed, a term I use pretty liberally. Whether its current structure can be sustained is a wholly separate matter.

Mike Hunt

That’s 1 more trophy than shitty Metro Redbulls have gotten in over 18 years……please just stop!

Anonymous

They got a trophy for having the best record over a 13 game fall season. Then a second for a one game cup. You sir, are a numbskull. Nobody fears the Cosmos. Pony up the franchise fee and join MLS. Then the Red Bulls can beat you regularly. That is the only end game for them. Their owners will not be investing $200MM for them to play in the second division in front of 4,500 spectators.

Peter D. Ross

Keep talking and you keep showing your minimal knowledge in soccer. First, Apertura and Clausura exists. And in those tournaments, each season a champion is declared. Moreover, during the ASL, in the late 1920s to early 1930s, we also had a version of a Spring and Fall or Apertura and Clausura champion. They also determined a league champion with the Spring winner meeting the Fall winner. The NASL is doing something similar.

Next, the Cosmos have no need to carelessly squander $100mil on a McDonald’s franchise fee when that money can be invested towards building their club.

And you are right, the owners are not investing in a stadium so only a few can go. They are building it so eventually 25,000 people can go watch them. When this whole “D2” myth is finally broken and the shackles are taken off, then you will see what is going to happen.

And for the record, have you even been to the Red Bulls games this year? Seriously, the team is categorized as D1, but they are not packing in 25,000 even with that so called label. The stadium has been mostly half full. At times it has felt that only 12,000 people were in attendance. MLS is a farce.

People follow their teams because they love their teams with a passion and want to see them win. If the Red Bulls and the Cosmos do that, then that is all that matters.

Anonymous

So when the ‘D2 myth’ is broken, you will see 11,000 fans at Hofstra to watch the Cosmos? I was at the 2013 home opener when 11,000+ showed up…they haven’t seen 7,000 at Shuart since. And only because the potential fans have been brainwashed that the Cosmsos play 2nd division football. You will not see 25,000 spectators at Belmont if they remain in the NASL. The product just isn’t good enough.

It’s a shame that the Red Bulls are drawing so poorly at home right now (I was there on 3/15 and 4/23)…but they never draw well during the cold, early season. They are a consistent 15,000 draw when the weather gets nice and school lets out. Not bad, but not great in a 25K seat stadium.

I understand Apertura and Clausura. It is valid. The joke is that the Cosmos won two trophies playing very few games. The ‘Apertura’ for the NASL is only 9 games(!!) this spring because of the World Cup. That’s why the NASL had to change the playoff format…people knew it would be a farce to award a spot in the Soccer Bowl after nine games.

You are an insulting prick…”keep showing your minimal knowledge.” I’ll guarantee you I know more about the history of U.S. soccer than you. Soccer is growing again in this country after almost a century of being derailed by greedy people in the early to mid 1900s. But to think that there’s some great brainwashing or conspiracy that’s keeping the fans from showing up at all levels is ridiculous. You don’t like MLS’ business model, fine. Stick with the NASL. Hopefully there will be a time when the average professional soccer match draws 30,000…maybe it’s a decade away, maybe 20 years, maybe never. You make me laugh with your, “…then you will see what is going to happen.” I only hope the Red Bulls win their 3rd round Open Cup game and this matchup with the Red Bulls happens. And I hope the Red Bulls play their best squad.

Peter D. Ross

First, when this D2 myth IS broken, people are going to see MLS for what it really is – a selfish soccer league in the US that has bought, and not earned, D1 status and prohibits clubs from entering it or participating unless they pay nearly $100mil.

MLS maliciously dictates to the youthful minds that in order for a club to be “professional” or to be “great” in the US it needs to pay this ridiculous SUM! Get out of here with this bs.

MLS’ strategy has ultimately been “follow your club because they are in MLS”. That is a major problem. Instead, it should be, follow your club because it is your club and you support it wherever it goes. Fans are starting to see this hypocrisy for what it is.

You bring up Cosmos attendance, and it seems you have not been keeping track. The Cosmos home opener this season was approximately 8,000. Furthermore the NASL attendance numbers are up and they keep climbing annually. When Cosmos Stadium is built, fans will follow the Cosmos and support them because they love their club no matter what. 25,000 supporters will fill the stadium as they see their team winning more championships in the coming years while playing in the NASL and competing against the best clubs in the world.

I have seen Red Bulls (Metro) back at Giants Stadium – horror of attendance. The club never really drew well to begin with. At Red Bull Arena, things have changed for the better. The stadium is without question one of the best SSS in the country. (Location and the PATH clearly an issue and another topic of conversation). But even at RBA the team has not gained a solid 20,000+ average attendance annually. In fact, this year it seems that numbers are down even after winning the supporters’ shield. Point is “D1” or really MLS does not guarantee anything, even high attendance. It only guarantees that you lose $100 mil and all your club rights.

What is a curious fact – Red Bulls are one of the very few clubs in MLS that actually own all the trademarks and right to their club (for obvious business reasons). There is nothing stopping Red Bulls from leaving MLS and continuing the New York Red Bulls in another league like the NASL. As a fan, would you stop following Red Bulls because they are not in MLS? Or would you follow the club no matter where they play? A real fan sticks to its club, not some pompous league.

Regarding this year’s NASL’s Apertura, you don’t need to explain to me the format. I am very familiar with it. The Championship now allows for the 4 teams that have achieved an accolade throughout the course of the year to participate: the Spring Champion, the Fall Champion, the team with the most points accumulated in both seasons, and the runner up. Putting the 4 teams in the championship rounds is very fair. Much better than the stupid MLS playoffs where nearly half the league participates after already playing more than 30 games in the season – Ridiculous.

After the Red Bulls won the Supporters’ Shield last year, Henry even said that in Europe or other parts of the world the team would be celebrating the championship, as it is synonymous with the regular season points winner. But it wasn’t the case and he knew it. Red Bulls still had to go through the annoying playoffs, only to lose early on. Very disappointing.

And if you have no skills to converse intelligently then you should not say anything at all. Before you call anyone names you should reevaluate yourself, your perception of the landscape of the game in the US, and the way soccer history has been distorted by MLS. So I suggest that you don’t be an MLS prick, and be game and club changer.

You clearly have little knowledge of the game’s history in this country. You say that soccer is growing “again” after nearly 100 years. You almost make it sound as if though it never grew before MLS. Absolutely ridiculous! Back to the major problem!

During the years of the ASL in the 1920s it was typical to see a game with thousands of people in attendance, even over 10,000. With the USA and NPSL there were also large attendance with over 6,000 average for both and at times 20,000 people or more at games for specific teams. The New York Skyliners had similar games with this amount, while the Generals also had games with about 8,000. In the NASL, the Cosmos would eventually have attendance of 20,000-40,000, while other top teams would have averages of 15,000-20,000 like the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

This fantasy that soccer is growing again in the US after 100 years is the problem!

I have never spoken about some conspiracy, which you allude to, that is trying to keep fans from showing up to games of clubs that are not in MLS. On the contrary, fans ARE showing up and the numbers are growing. The problem is how the label of D1 has been given exclusive to a league that has mostly been against the history of soccer in the US.

If soccer is to continue to grow in this country, MLS needs to vastly change and so does the arrangement of the “system” or the fake pyramid between the leagues. Then you can see many clubs dominate and expand.

I would love to see the Red Bulls and Cosmos face each other. And I would really like to see the New York Red Bulls leave MLS and join the NASL. Then, Red Bull, with their money can build an even greater club.

It’s amazing how it was revealed that Red Bulls had to let Holgerrson go really because of their salary cap being at the brink. In the NASL, the Red Bulls can create a club that would rival any other great one in the world. In MLS, they can not do it and have not done it. Times are changing. Anything is possible.

Anonymous

The New York Skyliners lasted for a year, played 12 games, and were a team from Uruguay….nice example.

Peter D. Ross

If that is all you walked away with, by arrogance, then there is nothing more to say to you.

To make clear to whoever is reading, the point of the Skyliners who were an American club – based in America and playing in America – with players from their sister club C.A. Cerro, was that in New York and in soccer history long before MLS soccer was already growing. In fact, in the early to mid 1970s soccer was called the fastest growing sport in America.

And in New York we have championship clubs with long history including:
Greek American AA
New York Pancyprian-Freedoms
S.C. Eintracht
New York Ukranians
New York Hakoah
NY Athletic Club
Brooklyn Italians

…just to name a few.

Many of these clubs have been around for over 50yrs. And like them, many more teams in the states share a similar historical US soccer pedigree. They form part of the cornerstone of soccer in our country.

Yet, according to the MLS conceptual framework, none of these clubs are part of the “top level”, or can reach it, or even considered “professional” because they don’t fork over $70-$100mil. Yet, NYCFC is all of a sudden an “authentic” professional club that has D1 status. Meanwhile, they have no authentic roots in this county. Total BS!

That is a major problem. MLS has no right to tell which club is professional or top flight or which deserves to be at the top in America. If they want to sell their franchises at $1billion dollars I could care less. But D1 should not have a price tag! It should be earned. D1 needs to be separated from MLS. Regardless, more clubs are banning together and are taking a stand against the illogical and unjust.

New York Red Bulls joining the NASL would be ground breaking. If they leave, they can gain even more world class players and win more championships. The New York Red Bulls would grow faster and much bigger than they ever could in MLS.

New York Red Bulls for NASL and finally conquering in soccer.

Anonymous

I just love riling you up. You are such an American soccer know-it-all. I can keep you going all week! You are burning a hole in Wikipedia. Stop being a name-caller Peter.

Mike Hunt

Are you illiterate!
Cosmos = 2 Trophies in 12 weeks
MetroBulls = 1 Trophy in 18 years!
YOU are a numbNUT

New York Cosmos are coming and you can’t do squat about it!!

Peter D. Ross

From Anonymous: “I just love riling you up. You are such an American soccer know-it-all. I can keep you going all week! You are a burning a hole in Wikipedia. Stop being a name-caller Peter.”

Instead of responding to what I state above, you completely shift gears to another extreme to try to change subjects and camouflage the above and the fact that you know diddly squat. It’s not working and it’s quite obvious. As I said before, there is frankly nothing more to say to you.

Focus at the end of the day, for everyone that is reading, US Soccer needs a wake up call. D1 needs to be reevaluated, while all clubs in this country should have an opportunity to participate in it.

Times are changing. And it’s time to step up. 500 authentic US soccer clubs and 150 years of US soccer history are louder than 22 Amway franchises and 20 years of selfishness and extortion.

We need a new D1, and soon enough it needs to happen!

Meh

Yawn….

As a follower of the only NY area first division soccer team and an MLS backer, my rankings in terms of importance are:

I get why it’s the most important and all to the teams in the inferior divisions… what’s glorious to a minor league team is to be able to say they beat the Div 1 team and they belong amongst the best in the US, especially if that team has a chip on their shoulder after being oh so jerked for NYCFC.

In reality, should the Cosmos or any other amatuer side beat the Red Bulls or any other Div 1 teams, they usually do so in name only, as the MLS sides field very weakened lineups traditionally. I suppose when you know you are amongst the best in the US already, you couldn’t care less about about beating an amateur side to prove it. Hence, why should I? I will yawn if NYRB ends up playing the Cosmos (or any other lower division side) and win, and I will meh and focus on the MLS tourneys that really matter if we lose.

Peter D. Ross

Right…
So this hypothetical, “I don’t really care, meh”, shrug of yours only took you a while to sit down and actually write the wall of nonsense above. Really.

MLS Cup is more valuable in ranking than the CONCACAF Champions League? Seriously? Next!!

In order for you, as an MLS fan, (nothing against NY Red Bulls specifically – as I am also a nearly 15yr supporter of the team) to create a defense you have to ultimately depreciate the value of the US Open Cup. You do it only so you can feel good about yourself if the Red Bulls never win it or if they also lose to the Cosmos. Typical of someone who lacks historical knowledge of and respect for the Cup. The US Open Cup is the highest championship in the country for a pro soccer club. Then each league’s title follows. In the region of North America, the CCL is the highest, and in the world the FIFA Club World Cup. One thing is to have a “personal view” and another to pretend that your view is a reality. I wish both teams well. I would imagine that the Red Bulls would field their A team. This match is not going to be any US Open Cup match. It will feel like a NYC title match. All the marbles are in play.

What would be of worth to see is a “amateur” or “semi-pro” team beating MLS clubs and winning the US Open Cup. And perhaps they can make it the CCL and further beat the MLS teams there and even win the tournament. It is funny how the Brooklyn Italians exist since 1949 (65 years), have won the US Open Cup twice and are “considered” a “semi-professional team”. Meanwhile NYCFC has not even fielded one team on the field yet and they are arbitrarily considered “a professional team”. That is what is wrong with the perception of soccer in the US.

Fair nuff mate and will not argue the history side, is important to most (not all) leagues and obviously to soccer people here.

That said, I’ll be one of the new NYCFC fans because the existing teams have never really appealed and, frankly, aren’t anywhere near my domicile.

If done right the new team can appeal to a new fan base and give a much needed boost to football in the Bronx and other boroughs. Is good to see that one of their first moves was to reach out to great clubs like S Bronx where kids at risk are given life skills and a good dose of round ball.

As an interested outsider who has watched football live in five continents (and thus seen just about every way to make a bollocks of developing local leagues), i can say that the exigencies of modern football means the future of soccer here in the US is MLS and anything that can prevent the emergence of competing rival leagues, whether through bringing the NASL and MLS together or by changing the ownership requirements, has to be done for the future profile of the sport which needs to improve in quality, to get better TV deals and to stop losing the kids from high school to college to the pros.

it’s good to see so many passionate soccer people here, let’s channel that into building our clubs and not tearing down others in a way that is more than tongue in cheek.

Anonymous

your not Club, how hard is that to understand, say it with me “Franchise”

Reserve sides are put forth because they should be strong enough to take on the lower division sides and RBNY have through winning that way. RBNY have also played with many starters and LOST. Case in point was New England last year and certainly excruciating, the Harrisburg City Islanders the year before.

I am going to try & appeal to 2 sides here while throwing another aside. Cosmos(Old/New) > MetroStars > RBNJ have many ties when comes to the fabric of the Tri State soccer fan, Grandfathers,Fathers,Sons are all intertwined together. We are the heart of soccer fandom since the 70’s whether we like it or not in the area. I think if we do face each other in Open Cup that it should be something that’s celebrated & cherished by all of us that have seen the up/downs.
So now MLS is trying to pawn off on us NYCFC and it’s being thoroughly rejected by those who have lived through this beautiful history & renaissance of soccer & because of it’s lack of consideration to all that i have mentioned. NYCFC can be championed by MLS for the TV Market but it will never have the lineage that the Cosmos,MetroStars,RBNJ,Cosmos fans share. I had a few Shots of Tequila when i wrote this & i hope it makes sense, it comes from the Heart !

jspech

ahh the Brooklyn Italians have far more ties in that fabric. Not sure RBNY has any. 18yrs 1 trophy, empty stadium

Super Metro

Let me guess: winning a 13 season league against notably inferior rest of the teams? uhhm? it doesn’t cut it for me. The league where the Cosmos play is a lower division for as reason, if you think otherwise then you should stop drinking it…….

chris

Imagine if the Cosmos were to ever buy off the Red Bulls? That would be the greatest thing to MLS. In all honesty, the only way the NASL can come out of D2 will be because of the Cosmos. They’re counting on them just because they feel their brand name will bring attention to the league. but in fact they won’t when people realize they are a d2 league. Its all perception. Yeah I don’t like MLS’ business structure but its the only to go if it means the survival of the league. They did this to take precautions to not do what the old NASL did. But in time its going to have to change.

Bronx Boy

Yeah, everyone’s getting a bit stroppy over Cosmos v RB and there’s no guarantee they’re even going to play each other, EVER! Imagine what it’s going to be like with a NY-based team in the mix ;-) Let’s go City!

Bronx Boy

I will not argue the history side, is important to most (not all) leagues and obviously to soccer people here.

That said, I’ll be one of the new NYCFC fans because the existing teams have never really appealed and, frankly, aren’t anywhere near my domicile.

If done right the new team can appeal to a new fan base and give a much needed boost to football in the Bronx and other boroughs. Is good to see that one of their first moves was to reach out to great clubs like S Bronx where kids at risk are given life skills and a good dose of round ball.

As an interested outsider who has watched football live in five continents (and thus seen just about every way to make a bollocks of developing local leagues), i can say that the exigencies of modern football means the future of soccer here in the US is MLS and anything that can prevent the emergence of competing rival leagues, whether through bringing the NASL and MLS together or by changing the ownership requirements, has to be done for the future profile of the sport which needs to improve in quality, to get better TV deals and to stop losing the kids from high school to college to the pros.

it’s good to see so many passionate soccer people here, let’s channel that into building our clubs and not tearing down others in a way that is more than tongue in cheek.